Our approach is to identify your desired outcome and to ensure that you have all the support and assistance you require in order to achieve it.

Advice and guidance is delivered by email, telephone and in face-to-face meetings.

Our A-Z of day-to-day issues that we advise on includes:

• Bullying, harassment and discrimination
• Contracts of employment and service agreements
• Director issues
• Disciplinary proceedings
• Exit strategies and termination payments
• Flexible and part-time working
• Grievances
• Maternity and parental rights
• Offers of employment
• Pay and benefits
• Performance, ill-health and capability issues
• Redundancy – including selection and consultation
• Restrictive covenants and competition
• Settlements and settlement agreements
• Transfer of employment (including TUPE)
• Unfair or constructive dismissal
• Unpaid wages
• Whistleblowing
• Working Time Regulations

We will identify your objectives at the outset and we will recommend the strategy and tactics that are designed to achieve them.

Our work involves claims for breaches of many employee rights, including breach of contract, unfair dismissal and discrimination claims.

We will also act for you under the terms of any legal expenses or other insurance policy that you have already set in place.

Richard Stace has nearly 30 years’ experience in dealing with employment tribunal claims, having specialised exclusively in employment law throughout his career.

Fee guidance for employment tribunal claims

The cost of pursuing or defending an employment tribunal claim will depend on a number of factors. Not all of these can be predicted at the outset of a matter. These factors will include: the complexity of the claim; the manner in which the claim is pursued or defended by the other party; the volume of documents and number of witnesses; the number and length of hearings that are required to dispose of the claim; if the claim settles, whether it settles early or late in the process. There are other factors which cannot so readily be anticipated.

Our costs are generally based on an hourly rate, which may be between £210 and £235 an hour. You will be advised of the applicable rate when we begin work for you.

As a guideline, our costs for pursuing or defending a straightforward claim for unfair or wrongful dismissal, where the claim is disposed of in a day with up to three witnesses, are likely to be in the range of £5,000 to £7,500 plus VAT, in addition to the barrister’s fees for presenting your case on the day of the hearing and any out of pocket expenses. The barrister’s fees are likely to be between £1,500 and £2,500 plus VAT depending on their seniority and the complexity of the claim.

There are a number of factors that can make a claim more complex than this. They include:

• If it is necessary to make or defend applications to amend claims or to provide further information about an existing claim
• Defending claims that are brought by litigants in person
• Making or defending a costs application
• Complex preliminary issues such as whether the claimant is disabled (if this is not agreed by the parties)
• The number of witnesses and documents
• If it is an automatic unfair dismissal claim e.g. if the claimant alleges that they were dismissed after blowing the whistle on their employer
• Allegations of discrimination which are linked to the dismissal

Key stages

The fees set out above cover the following work:

• taking your initial instructions, reviewing the papers and advising you on merits and likely compensation (this is likely to be revisited throughout the matter and is subject to change)
• entering into pre-claim conciliation where this is mandatory to explore whether a settlement can be reached
• preparing your claim or response
• reviewing and advising on your claim or response from other party
• exploring settlement and negotiating settlement throughout the process
• preparing or considering a schedule of loss
• exchanging documents with the other party and agreeing a bundle of documents
• taking witness statements, drafting statements and agreeing their content with witnesses
• preparing a bundle of documents
• reviewing and advising on the other party’s witness statements
• agreeing a list of issues, a chronology and/or cast list
• preparation for the final hearing, including instructions to your barrister

The stages set out above are an indication and if some of stages above are not required, the fee will be at the lower end of the range. You may wish to handle the claim yourself and only have our advice in relation to some of the stages. This can also be arranged according to your individual needs.

How long will an employment tribunal claim take?

The time that it takes from taking your initial instructions to the final resolution of the claim depends on a number of factors, including the stage at which the case is resolved and how busy the tribunal centre dealing with the claim is at any particular point in time. Currently, a simple one-day claim which proceeds to a contested hearing might be heard within six to twelve months after the claim is presented to the employment tribunal. A settlement can take place at any time from pre-claim conciliation onwards. Sometimes claims settle at the hearing itself.

Of course we will keep you informed about costs and timescales throughout any claim in which you are involved.

 

Our approach is to identify with you the extent to which the offer and terms are reasonable and whether there is scope for improving them. We will then recommend the best approach to be taken in order to promote your interests, which often includes us, on your behalf, entering into negotiations with your employer.

Almost invariably, the employer will offer a contribution towards the employee’s legal fees. Often the contribution will be sufficient to meet your fees in full and at other times the employer will increase its contribution in the light of the way in which matters progress. Where it is apparent that a shortfall is likely, we will advise you on your funding options.